WATCH out, there's a speeder about! City residents worried about speeding drivers are to be brought into the fight to improve road safety should councillors agree to form a new Community Speed Watch campaign.

One measure to slow down vehicles could be local people driving along their roads at the correct speed - thus preventing ones behind them breaking the limit.

Road safety officers at City of York Council will aim to encourage safer driving by fostering a culture where "speeding in communities gradually becomes socially unacceptable".

Councillors tonight will be asked to give the go-ahead to the new campaign, where residents will work in partnership with North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service. Targeted at local community groups, schools and parish councils, where residents are concerned, road safety officers will meet and listen to their complaints.

Once a length of road has been identified, campaigners will work with the fire service to use a temporary Speed Indicating Device, which records the speed of each vehicle and flashes a happy or sad face depending on whether the road speed limit is being adhered to or exceeded.

In a report to councillors attending a council planning and transport meeting, road safety officer Tom Bryant writes that: "Residents will be encouraged to sign-up to a speed pledge, thus committing themselves to driving within the speed limit."

Publicity on the streets will remind residents they have signed up and "put added pressure on those drivers who are currently speeding".

The pledge may also see residents driving through their streets acting as "pace cars" - limiting the speed of drivers behind them.

On many stretches of road in the city, residents have contacted council bosses with their fears about traffic speeds in their communities.

In some rural villages, such as Thormanby on the A19, permanent signs are in place which alert drivers of the speed limit and when they are driving too fast.

Coun David Wilde, who has campaigned for speed reduction measures on Hull Road after a student was killed, welcomed the new initiative.

He said: "This is useful, but I think we want to be taking stronger measures. I am in favour of permanent signs which light up. I think this the way we are going to have to move forward to bring down some of the speeds of traffic."

Updated: 09:57 Wednesday, February 01, 2006